99 Ways to Make Your Computer Blazingly Fast

Over the last several years working in IT for various companies as a Systems Administrator, Network Administrator, and Help Desk professional, I’ve written and learned about many ways to increase the performance of not only my PC, but also of the many PCs on my networks ranging from Windows 98 to Windows Vista.

In this article, I hope to compile a complete list of all the different methods and tricks that I’ve used to get the last bit of juice out of a slow PC. Whether you are using an old PC or the latest and greatest in hardware, you can still use some of these to make your PC run faster.

Note that since I write two blogs, Help Desk Geek and Online Tech Tips, I have previously written about many performance tips already which I will link back to throughout. If I have not written about it, I’ve throw in a link to a relevant article from some of my other favorite sites. This list is in no particular order, just written in the order that I could think of them.

There are probably a lot of great tweaks and performance hacks that I’ve missed here, so feel free to chime in with comments! Enjoy!

3. Clean up hard drive disk space being taken up by temporary files, the recycle bin, hibernation and more. You can also use a tool like TreeSize to determine what is taking up space on your hard drive.

4. Load up Windows faster by using Startup Delayer, a free program that will speed up the boot time of Windows by delaying the startup of programs.

6. By default, the size of the paging file is controlled by Windows, which can cause defragmentation. Also, the paging file should be on a different hard drive or partition than the boot partition. Read here on the rules for best paging file performance.

7. In Windows XP and Vista, the Windows Search indexing service is turned on for all local hard drives. Turning off indexing is a simple way to increase performance.

72. If you are not using some of the hardware on your computer, i.e. floppy drive, CD-ROM drive, USB ports, IR ports, Firewire, etc, then go into your BIOS and disable them so that they do not use any power and do not have to be loaded during boot up.

73. If you have never used the Recent Documents feature in Windows, then disable it completely as a long list can affect PC performance.

76. Disable short filenames if you are using NTFS by running the following command: fsutil behavior set disable8dot3 1. It will speed up the file creation process.

77. If you have lots of files in a single folder, it can slow down Explorer. It’s best to create multiple folders and spread out the files between the folders.

78. If you have files that are generally large, you might want to consider increasing the cluster size on NTFS to 16K or even 32K instead of 4K. This will help speed up opening of files.

79. If you have more than one disk in your PC, you can increase performance by moving your paging file to the second drive and formatting the volume using FAT32 instead of NTFS.

80. Turn off unnecessary features in Vista by going to Control Panel, choosing Uninstall a program, and then clicking on Turn Windows features on and off. You can turn off Remote Differential Compression, Tablet PC components, DFS replication service, Windows Fax & Scan, Windows Meeting Space, and lots more.

81. Install a free or commercial anti-virus program to help protect against viruses, etc. Make sure to use an anti-virus program that does not hog up all of your computer resources.

82. Completely uninstall programs and applications using a program like Revo Uninstaller. It will get rid of remnants left behind by normal uninstalls.

83. If you know what you are doing, you can install several hard drives into your machine and set them up in RAID 0, RAID 5, or other RAID configurations.

84. If you are using USB 1.0 ports, upgrade to 2.0. If you have a Firewire port, try to use that instead of a USB port since Firewire is faster than USB right now.

93. If you have a custom built computer or a PC that was previously used, make sure to check the BIOS for optimal settings such as enabled CPU caches, correctly set IDE/SATA data transfer modes, memory timings, etc. You can also enable Fast/Quick boot if you have that option.

94. If you have a SCSI drive, make sure the write cache is enabled. You can do so by opening the properties of the SCSI drive in Windows.

please explain how removing files from a hard disk improves speed? (you can't) and this is the sort of misinformation that causes people to delete files or even un-install software for no reason. please study CS101 before posting garbage like this. hint: everything occurs in WS.

I think many of these are becoming less true the better of an OS you get. If you are still working with Windows XP- These things will make a WORLD of difference. It will feel like a new computer. If you are running OSX then many of these are either pointless or well automated. (or, Windows 7, I find that they took care of many of these issues BEAUTIFULLY in the update… This list is why Windows 7 will be the best Windows yet… but it's still in beta)

I would like to see hard evidence on whether defragging for today's hard drives (large) for the average user (not a whole lot of data) is truly helpful. Techs in my computer shop argue it is not under those circumstances.

@Will – I wrote reformatting the computer as one of the tips, however, I think it's also something not a lot of people know how to do. These small little tweaks can go a long way for a non tech-savvy computer user.

@Brain – Are you sure? Then what is PAE exactly for?

@Syahid – Thanks man! Two blogs going now!

@benevolent – What exactly are you talking about! Are you saying that installing 100 apps on a computer will not slow it down? I don't know what kind of computer you have been using, but getting rid of junk temp files and useless programs has worked wonders…why do you think people uninstall all the preloaded software from a new PC (hint: to make it fast!)

@christina – I agree with you…these tips are mostly for Windows XP and Vista…which still can have loads of problems in terms of performance. Windows 7 should be a lot better…

@TechnicalBard – Thanks, I'll fix that.

@edwest – Well if you are a user without a lot of data and have a huge hard drive, then you are correct. It's really only useful if you have a lot of files (small or large) and your hard drive is not that big.

@bob, @Mike – I should have named this 99 ways to make your Windows computer blazingly fast. Definitely Linux users would not have to worry about these issues.

@Dan – I would also say that having more programs means that your registry is more cluttered, which means Windows loads slower since it is always accessing the registry. And yes, taking a book off the shelf would take the same time for any book, but finding the book is what takes more time when you have more books.

@ Alf – Interesting point. I will read into that. I might add your point to my tip as a counter argument.

Re benevolent anarchist's post – I agree that removing programs from your hard drive will not in itself make the PC faster. I use the analogy that the hard drive is like a bookcase, putting more books on it doesn't affect the speed at which you can read a book once you've picked it off the shelf.

The only way uninstalling programs will speed a PC up is if the program you removed was loaded up at boot time. The PC will boot faster and you'll have more memory available. Also, reducing the number of files on the hard drive will have a positive effect if you've got indexing on – less files means less to index.

But if the program isn't loaded up at boot time, and indexing is off, I can't see how uninstalling it will make the PC any faster at all.

#6 is misleading. Paging file size has nothing to do with actual file storage/allocation. I think you may be thinking of page file fragmentation(which is way different from file fragmentation). Also, if this was the case, I think it would cause 'fragmentation'(defragmentation is usually a good thing).

Wow, just wow, did any of the mac/linux junkies even read the article? He very clearly suggests that moving to a faster operating system would improve performance. Vista<slower than XP<slower than mac OS<slower than linux (maybe mac and linux switched, not sure).

And to all the people arguing about clearing the prefetch folder….. if errors in the prefetch folder are so rare (from on the the posted links de-bunking the prefetch speed up myth), why are there so many people who ONLY clean out their prefetch folder and their PC speeds up? I'm not saying it's the prefetch, it probably is errors in the information in the prefetch folder just like many people have suggested, but it seems to me that the errors are pretty common. For people who don't have the time or energy to tear their computer apart looking for the real problem, clearing the prefetch folder seems like a pretty good, once-a-week/once-a-month solution.

If I remember correctly, it DOES allow use of over ~3.5GB of RAM in 32bit Windows XP and Vista Operating Systems in some circumstances, however, PAE works in the background, separate and somewhat unknown by the Windows OS, and has limitations. Since the methods that PAE uses are at least partially independent from the OS, Windows still only reports that it is using/able to use ~3.5GB. As I read (wish I could find the article with the explanation again to post it here) PAE doesn't enable Windows itself to make use of the additional (>3.5GB) RAM directly by means of caching small files there, but, if the user attempts to open a large file, such as a image or video file, PAE will essentially intercept the memory request and remap it so that the file is able to continue on into the previously unusable memory space.

26 also has the effect of removing all of your precious data away from C drive, so that if (& when) you need to re-install Windows, you only need to have a few key items like your Firefox profile (& perhaps your outlook folder) backed up & you can then confidently wipe the C drive & go ahead.

I always install machines with 20 Gigs in C drive & the rest in D drive. One of my first activities after that is to MOVE the My Documents folder to the root of the D drive, where it will quite happily adopt whatever is there.

Please help. Forget which tip I used, but it has disabled both Firefox 3 and IE7 Neither one will load a web page to tabs. Any ideas on how to fix? (In case you're wondering, I'm using Google Chrome). Thanx

Typical "I think i'm better than you because I run Linux" users, Who sadly have no clue about computing. Everyone knows that Linux can be faster than windows, there is no need to point it out here on a blog with tips aimed at windows users!

1. Most Linux users use Windows aswell, primarily for playing games and other apps that Linux can't run.

2. I work for a multinational company with offices all over the world. You can't just switch them to linux. It don't work like that i'm afraid.

3. Average Joe at home WILL find the transition to Linux a struggle, and at the end of the day not worth the hassle.

So think before your next "Just install ubuntu" comment, it doesn't make you sound clever. In fact the opposite.

Ahh… I think you mean, 99 ways to make Windows a bit faster. Seriously these are all limited to the Windows OS.

Step 1 should have been "Install Debian Linux" and step 2 "learn some quick package management skills to 'apt-get install kde xorg' ". Rather than spending the time on the other 97 tips here, just get a fast secure system that doesn't have these issues to begin with.

Brian, #98 actually is correct. Enabling PAE will cause a 32-bit OS to reconize memory beyond ~3.2GB, but the motherboard needs to correctly support PAE to begin with. This is used in server that have way more than 4GB memory and still a 32-bit server OS ;)

In the tip "22" I copied the fonts back to the original font folder (I realized there were no changes), but still some fonts doesn't appear anymore on Internet Explorer. Could you please tell me how can I fix it??

To all the idiots saying "get linux". Get over yourselves. We all know that *nix systems are NOT for everybody and will never be the mainstream home OS. My primary machine still runs a Windows OS, and probably always will. When you say things like that, all you do is make yourself sound like an elitist douchebag.

Yeah, the linux thing is a little silly. I love it for myself but it will never be mainstream. Try troubleshooting linux problems with a non-power user over the phone. You'll be saying 'install windows' after a couple weeks.

Imagine having to do these things to get your OS to perform satisfactorily. Lots of work I must say. Why do people have to put in so much effort maintaining their PC's. When are we going to reach a stage where PC's should only be used and the maintenance of it be almost unheard of like the many appliances we use. Where the failure rate is low. The point being that if a PC slows down as to be almost unusable is as good as having failed.

The closest to this low maintenance scenario are the open source OS's. They need a much lower level of maintenance. The PC with an open source OS is close to the ideal of 'It just works'.

Good list. Helpful. However……prefetch should be left alone. Windows clears and reloads the prefetch every 60 days or so (I forgot the exact interval) automatically based on user activity. Manually clearing the prefetch actually slows down browsing and app launching. You mentioned Smart Defrag. IOBIT has a nifty app containing it's Smart Defrag and other cool tools plus a bunch of very useful utilities…its called Advanced System Care…and its free. The Foxit PDF reader is smaller and faster than Adobe and is free. Also, Malwarebytes Anti Malware will snag nasties other virus scanners miss. Its free too. Everyone should try Open DNS. If you don't like it, its easy to reverse, but, you probably won't want to go back to your ISP's DNS. Always back up your registry before mucking about in there. One wrong keystroke or click could cripple your PC. Vista is indeed the Edsel of OS's. Lets hope for our sake that Microsoft can redeem itself with Windows 7 the way Ford did with the Mustang.

Thanks for all the advice! It has worked wonders. This may be off subject, but I've noticed another thing that has helped my speed a lot as far as internet browsing. For one, the type of browser you use effects a lot. I use firefox. If you edit userChrome.css and the like (there are a couple more in there) you can improve performance amazingly well. User.js is the other main one. http://webdesigns.ms11.net/chromeditp.html makes things a lot easier than going the 'about:config' route. You can google through lists of good tweaks. If anyone is interested in any just email me at monopoles@hotmail.com

If you think the number of installed programs affects system speed, and that registry cleaning is necessary or helpful, and defragging will make a significant difference in performance, it indicates that you have no idea what you're talking about.

#40 is a great way to get a higher quality/cheaper machine if you research parts/shop for deals. Plus you start with a clean Windows install and don't need #13!

#7 may not be "faster" if you do a lot of searching, esp. in Vista with start menu search.

#16 I wouldn't recommend. Instead if you get excessive UAC prompts, give yourself higher permissions in folders that make sense, such as the Start Menu. UAC is needed to use IE or Chrome sandbox mode.

#67 May actually slow desktop response if you have a fast video card. Windows 7 also stores the image of each window solely in VRAM, which means turning off Aero would use MORE main memory.

#81 seems contrary to this article. For the computer savvy, not running antivirus helps a lot, especially on older machines.

#86 may make a machine run faster, and be better in the long run, but the learning curve will definately make the user less efficent in the short term. Learning curve length would vary quite a bit, depending on what kinds of software someone uses and would have to learn replacements for. If Computer = web browser = Firefox, then the switch could be pretty quick/painless. In my personal experience, Linux (Gnome) seems less responsive than Windows, but of course that's just one measure of speed.

OK…i have been in the computer repair/installation world since about 99. i have watched the evolution of the OS's…*nix open source OS, The Microsoft OS, and the Apple OS. So….that being said, YES there has been issues with Windows…and the other companies have practically shouted about it since the creation of Windows.

What better way to hide one's own flaws than go NUTS about someone elses? The thing they all have seemed to overlook…is that even with all the flaws Windows has….it is still the "easiest, most User friendly OS" out there. Look me in the eye and tell me that the average joe will be able to sit down at a *nix computer and get it to do what he wants. And don't get me started on the Macintosh/Apple OS.

SO…in argument, YES windows has issues…but rather than just saying "go with *nix" because it happened to work for you…why not use your obvious knowledge of computing skills….and HELP someone!

Switching to Ubuntu Linux definitely resolves the issues. It is much faster and infinitely more stable than any Windows OS. I mention Ubuntu simply because it is the most popular and easy to use for the vast majority of users out there. I meant no disrespect to the other Linux distributions out there as there are many good Linux distros.

I've gone through a defrag after making an image backup of my system and my Windows XP system is running much quicker. Thanks for the tips. So far this seems to be the best laid out list of Windows performance tips I've found on the web. Just read one comment regarding Windows being the easiest to use and strongly disagree. I've been using the FREE Ubuntu OS for some time and find it easier to use and much faster then Windows. The only hangup is when you come accross a program that's not ported to a Linux distro. But that the fault of the app Vendor not the OS.

Wow 99 ways, now if only we can find a software that will automate at least half of these important but admittedly mundane tasks. This is some really great research, and how to speed up ones pc is about one of the most asked computer tech questions – Well done!

Almost impossible to break, in fact I have never broken it with all the fiddling I do – installing/uninstalling all the FREE software to try out new things.

And over a year down the line, it is still as fast as ever and never once had a system freeze etc.

As a windows user all my life prior to this, the last straw was buying a new laptop with Vista on it and realising how slow and inefficient it was out of the box and just didn't do what I wanted it to do (watch and recode video etc. etc.).

Dual booting with Linux and I can't remember the last time I booted into Vista… don't need to as the software (which is OpenSource and free) on Linux is generally (99% of the time) MUCH better than the windows equivalents and just works without tweaking, fiddling around etc.

Best of all… it is FREE.

Microsoft has had it's day.

If I owned MS shares, I would definately have sold or be looking for other places to invest my money.

Google is bringing out it's own OS soon as well.

Microsoft's answer? Windows 7 and another large bill for PC users to carry on using a second rate OS.

I love how the Mac cultists suggest that OSX is actually faster without actually using a well-optimized XP on the same PC to compare. I have OSX and XP (with Litestep) on this Macbook. XP simply runs rings around OSX. And everything takes less clicks. Mac people make me laugh.

Oh, and to all the anti-Linux naysayers in the comments saying its too hard: I've successfully converted several people who are far from tech savvy. When they have problems (Only happened a few times.) I have no issues helping them fix it.

And the ONLY reason Windows is "user friendly," so-called, is because you've USED it extensively. Many a /. poster has pointed out that if the situation were reversed and we all grew up on Linux we'd be bashing Windows as the steep learning curve and praising Linux as the "user friendly," so-called, operating system.

Thanks for compiling this list. It depends on us whether to use it or not. As for ID "geeknik", perhaps u should try the modification before u disagree with it! I've done SOME of the ways above even before I read this list and they work fine!

To all of the linux and mac users, you are sooooo full of crap!!!!! I have several friends who use both mac’s osx and linux ubuntu (or however it’s spelled), and we frequently get together to test our computers against each other. I am running win 7 ultimate, and i kick their butt’s every single time.

No matter what they come up with, i always beat them. Ubuntu may be a faster os, but it can’t do squat! It is boring, and doesn’t have half of the abilities or programs to do the things i want to do. The mac’s take several more click’s, and are consistently slower at everything we try. The only thing i give mac’s credit for, is the multi-finger mouse funcx’s. Those are cool. But the linux is so limited in what you can do with it, i wouldn’t even load it as a dual boot os.

Almost all of the problems people have with windows is operator error. For instance, so many people complaining before about the user account security notices in vista… turn them off! It took two clicks! Others saying they can’t find things in vista. Type anything into the search box on the start menu, and it appears as you type. Done! Maybe if half of those people had a brain, and some common sense they wouldn’t have so many problems.

I will put my win 7 ult os, up against anyone else os, any place, any time! All of you linux and mac users, can kiss my cache!!!!!!!!

If I install Linux in my PC, will I still be able to reinstall my old programs or will I have to find the Linux versions? Because if thats the case, why would I want to bother with Linux just because its faster, but I wont be able to work my programs.

My computer was starting up very slow, but after disabling some built-in Windows services, the computer started up a lot faster. Of course, you have to make sure you disable only the appropriate services, but it's definitely worth reading into and implementing!

Sorry, I did not bother to read the original post as it does not apply to me (I don't use Windows)

@stevae
I'm sure you are smarter than your friends who use Linux and Mac. A smart person may be able to do a lot of work faster and better with DOS (with some utilities installed) than a person, with Windows 7, who has never used a computer. So does that mean DOS is the better OS?

I also have many friends who use Windows 7 and I have seen and used their PCs. Most of them re-install Windows on a regular basis. Almost all of them use Antivirus softwares and keep them updated. Some of the smart ones use various kinds of optimization tools and techniques to make it "run faster". I have seen the speeds in their PCs.

I have also seen RAM and CPU utilization of Windows 7 and I know it is much worse than Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, leave alone Linux.
Unlike you, I can't put myself against anyone Windows or OS X, coz many smart people are using those OS too. However, I would like to suggest those to try Linux and see how it works for them. Once they get a grip of it, any smart person will never look back, I'm sure.

I have used Windows all my life, before I moved on to Ubuntu and I find nothing difficult here. Since I don't have much time for games and all, I don't actually miss Windows (when I do have time for games, I play Assaultcube on Ubuntu). I am also not into any profession that requires applications that run on Windows. And I am really lucky.

I can't force anyone to use Linux, if you're not willing to, but if you are tired of Viruses/trojans/spywares/malwares and Antiviruses/Antispyware/AntiRootkits, reinstallations due to unsolvable(or very difficult to solve) errors or gradual slowing down of the OS, registry cleaners and system optimizers, then you should give Linux a try.

@tonyh730
Wait for Windows 8. You need to reinstall Windows at least then, so you will need newer versions of all those programs and maybe even a new PC (they won't tell you you will need a new PC, but you will realize when you use Windows 8 for a week). Then you can safely migrate to Linux. :D

@those who think Linux is problematic
I love solving problems. I used Windows and I got problems of Viruses and Trojans frequently, not to mention many other problems that came along. I solved my problems and felt happy about it.

After getting bored with the same problems again and again, I moved on to Ubuntu Linux(as the only OS in my PC) and I got so few problems that I again got bored with it. I then starting using development versions of Ubuntu, as they are supposed to have problems. I'm currently running Ubuntu Lucid Lynx Alpha 2 and use development version of Firefox, Pidgin and many other packages, but I haven't gotten to face much problems.

However, I have found a way around this. Now, I have started getting into problems that I can deal with at regular basis. I have started working (software development) on my PC to solve my client's problems.

defragmentation and registry cleaning: DEFINITELY NOT! It does more damage than it does good – also the time taken to run a defrag is much more then you will ever get from the speed boost. Cleaning the registry does actually nothing. There are millions of keys in there – deleting some 1000 wont even give you a boost of 1 ms!

Actually, dont use any "speeding up tools"! They wont bring any relevant benefits and will destroy your system in the means of long term usage. Giving you 1 sec fater loading times spanned over one hour is pretty much useless – dont you think? ;)

Just tune the windows's inbuilt settings – no more! There are pretty neat tricks, you can do with a regedit ;) and actually most ppl (including "tune-up-tool-authors") dont even know them. You will have to google, as these are hardware dependend!

@ the windows guy, competing against linux: You actually cannot beat linux with anything above win 2000. Not in security and not in performance. Believe me, I tried to beat some linux guys at university. It was no problem with win 2000, but i couldnt get win XP to perform as good as win 2000. Vista and win7 are total fail, when it comes to performance.

Wow. I didn't realize there were SO MANY IT professionals out there. You have to wonder, if these guys know everything about computer performance, then why are they searching how to make their computers faster and ultimately wind up on THIS page?? People amaze me. You are either part of the problem, or part of the solution. Thanks for writing this blog. It helped alot.

registry cleaners often do more harm than good. theyre just programs and dont have the human judgement as to whether to remove a key or not. they often use the date of last access as to decide whether to remove a key or not. if you know what you are doing its much better to do it by hand… though considering the number of entries in the registry… good luck fully cleaning it out lol. still a good thing to do though.

bootvis has had a lot more benefits attributed to it than it actually grants. it can optimize boot time quickly initially but doesnt help much after that.

prefetch… ill leave that alone everybody has complained about that tip enough :P

the max connections per server is a VERY VERY good tip. i have a netbook that used to have very slow internet and can now easily stream video with a low connection strength on wireless g.

working on services is hit and miss. most run in the background and dont use up much memory anyway and are more good than bad. but there are several memory hogs that arent really justified *coughindexingcough*

if you have enough ram using largesystemcache can be good. once again hit and miss, it can be WORSE for some programs.

for secondary ide channels in the device manager in the same menus where you enable dma, you have an option above about looking for ide devices. if you dont use ide devices a lot switch it to "none". you will of course have to enable it if you DO want to run an ide device. this can speed boot time slightly.

in bios you can do 2 things even in a very basic bios like phoenix trustedcore… sigh… unfortunately i have that one… you can enable it to boot quickly and skip some basic tests. and you can also change the order of devices to boot from. normally it searches for external drives to boot from first. unless youre upgrading your bios from said external drives during this boot youre wasting time checking. speed up the boot by booting from your hard drive first.

also for the virtual memory… well its not really virtual memory to be splitting hairs here. virtual memory is the memory that is made up of your physical memory AND your paging memory. what youre altering here is paging memory. yes good advice set it to the same size or windows will constantly resize it. adding to that its good to put your paging memory on a separate hard drive if youve got 2 or a separate partition.

I am sorry for commenting on this article so late but I just read it. If you go through the list, you will find that probably a half are just the same advice repeated with a slight variation. This is ridiculous and a waste of time. Take for example 18,3,19,54.

Scan your system using antivirus.
Scan your system using free antivirus.,
Scan your system using something like McAfee, Avast, Avira, etc.
Clean the system using a free antispyware.
Scan using a freeware suvch as Malwarebytes, Antispyware etc,

I mean just go over this list and I am sure it can be reduced to less than 30 and you would still not have missed any.

For example, you have maybe 4 items referencing defrag. Defrag your your system. That would take care of 1: defrag prefetch, 2:defrag filesyste, 3:defrag registry, 4:defrag pagefile. I hope you see how frustrated this can get even when well intended.

Wipe out Windows in favor of Ubuntu to get a faster computer? Certainly never worked for me on any computer. XP and 7 both fly like birds (the latter pretty low though), and Ubuntu keeps slugging like a snail. Xubuntu is marginally better.

However, I have no argument against… that Linux and Mac's might absolutely get an advantage over Windows a couple of months after install for the "average" non computer savvy user, who has generally little clue on how to avoid getting those five browser toolbars, two rootkits and ten trojans which all somehow managed to get by the resident antivirus in Windows.

Giving a non-IT professional simple tools like those above will teach them to keep their computer clean and give them some basic understanding of how adding garbage to thier machine affects system speed. I meet people everyday that are frustrated becuase they can literally take a shower while thier machine loads because they have never performed basic maintenance on machines they bought years ago. Teach a man to fish and he can feed his family for life, isn't that in like 99 different religious texts?

* Make sure you install and run only trusted 3d party software/application.

* DO NOT download then install software if 1 or 2 people say 'it's good' etc. Compare the software with other software and read reviews/comment about the software you look at.

* The important thing is, make sure you add "Assistant" to your pc. The "Assistant" will help your 30% of your job to take care of the pc. You may choose "Assistant" like Tuneup Utilities or etc to help you. Other "Assistant" on your computer are Antivirus, Antispyware, Firewall.

Ive tried to install linux but i couldnt get it to install right so if anyone has any tips or hell even a guide on doing it please email me at joexminion@yahoo.com I.E i was trying to install ubuntu linux kernel. Thanks!

Binny V A …. Thank you for your tip – it worked immediately!!!! Now, I still have to try the 99 tips that were graciously compiled… to make my computer go faster. Now, if only I could I could figure out a way to: 1) not get (Program not responding) often and 2) sometimes when internet is loading a webpage that takes too long to open, I try to press "Stop", but it does not stop or let me go back or refresh or…

This list does a good job of outlining several tips to increase performance. However, I agree some of this tips are useless and could cause problems. For all you linux/mac lovers groupies I can say that they are faster OS but they are not as great as people portrait them.

The solution? there is not a clear one but I would advise updating to windows 7. Windows vista was a fail. However, the 64-bit version worked fine for me for a while but Windows 7 is an improved version of vista. Try to think of it like an improved XP with vista features and some more.

Linux is great. I have used it and I love it. It is really fast but the software available for it is limited. What I find funny is all the linux and mac users commenting in a "99 ways to make your computer blazingly fast" site. If your linux or mac computer is so blazingly fast like you say, what the hell are you doing here??

Mac is just plain nonsense. I mean the OS is nice and all but why would anybody spend twice as much in getting a underrated computer? And the software availabe for it is even more limited.

Bottom line: If your computer is slow and should not be the best thing you can do is back up your data, reformat your hard drive and do a fresh install whether it's xp or win 7. I would recommend while you are at it make it a dual boot with ubuntu or gentoo linux and try it out. I'm sure you will love it, they are easy to use. You will find yourself using linux more often and using windows only when needed.

Get linux. I use the Ubuntu distro.. never had to do any of the things in this list. And, for those keeping windows because mico$hit says you can't play games on linux, well.. i play all my games on linux + wine and is working better than windows.

So funny, why would all these Linux and Mac users be commenting on a Windows XP topic? Did we struggle to use the search engine correctly?

As a list, it's good food for thought. Windows is the OS used by most companies despite your fanboyism, so why not share tips for making it faster. If I give an average user Linux, they'll be unproductive. The interface and lack of applications is the problem. Why would an average user that struggles to do anything, want something that makes that even more difficult? Companies don't deploy Linux to users because it's unproductive. It's getting better but we still have some way to go.

Macs are easier to use but there is also a lack of business applications for them. I don't see people throwing out their Oracle applications and binning SAP or their CRM applications. Apple Macs have their use but have you ever tried to manage them? How do you deploy applications to 1,000 Apple Macs? How do you patch them and keep the anti-virus up-to-date? Have you ever had a Mac expert that can fix them when they go wrong? No, most Mac users have no technical knowledge which makes technical issues like pulling teeth.

I hate Windows and would dearly love to put Mac OS or Linux into a corporate environment, but it just doesn't work, so, Windows is the best compromise. You keep worrying about your one PC here and there. I'll keep looking out for the companies with thousands of PCs.

Some of these are definitely good tips but really fall under the category of general computer maintenance.

Some of these tips have no affect on performance, negatively affect performance, or increase the risk of causing damage to your computer.

I highly doubt cleaning your registry is going to make any measurable difference in performance, and it may leave you with a dead computer. Moving certain folders around such as the My Documents folder is unlikely to make a difference either, unless the computer is nearly full.

Updating the BIOS? Unless you need to fix a known problem or add some new functionality or hardware support, this is considered somewhat risky with no benefit to performance.

Thanks, a couple of these maybe helped a tiny bit in speeding up my Celeron Eee PC, however far too many were filler or downright silly (even discounting the ones irrelevant just in my case because of an SSD and no pagefile), maybe try not setting a target of how many tips you want before writing next time.

As for the people arguing over OS, they all have flaws you just have to find which has the flaws you can live with.

Use portable applications (standalone applications) as much as possiblem.Make your most used applications portable and keep them in a folder.It would be nice to have that folder on another hard drive….

.Every time you install a fresh Windows, you don't need to install all the applications again ….just simply run them from there.

You will be surprised how many programs run perfectly if you copy them from one computer or another….

A very small list

Winamp Lite

7Zip

XNview

Irfan View

Opera

Defraggler

PaintStar

ImageBurn and so on

Using portable applications you won't overload the windows registry …and the opperating system will have more ressources available

This page should have been named "99 ways to get "nerds" to argue and bring jerks out of the wood work"

Hey, the list is made, its an excellent list for ways to speed up windows. As a person who came across this page looking for help, I found it. If you already know what you think to be everything about OS and PCs, then perhaps you should make your own page with your own lists instead of critiquing this guy's.

For those of us that are trying to improve our computer like the title indicated, instead of trashing and replacing our OS or PC, this is very informative.

So way to beat down the Samaritan, "experts". Too bad you can't find someone to belittle in the flesh! Maybe you should stop finger f*ing your USB ports and start living.

I have to agree with the folks that say "Get a Mac." I switched over to Mac 1 1/2 years ago and, with little to no maintenance, my Mac runs just as fast today as it did the day I got it. Those that say Linux is faster than Mac OS X are just wrong. I've got a Linux machine on a comparable platform to my Mac and it's not any faster. However, both are much faster than any windows machine I've ever used.

There are three main reasons that computer slows down: registry errors, spyware and adware, viruses. Actually, however, according to the statistics, 90% of computer problems are caused by computer registry, so it is important to constantly clean up your computer registry to ensure that your computer runs in a good condition.

Now there are two good software programs on the Internet for this: Tuneup360 and Norton systemwork, but the latter one is a little bit difficult. For the beginners, Tuneup360 is a good choice.

I'm looking through this list and it's very useful – I'm using it to fix up a friend's slow, glitchy PC. Me, I got sick of all this stuff 3 years ago and got a Mac. Works a treat, no junk software, no need for tweaks, and now I'm a DJ, too!

Seriously, I've spent the whole day dealing with this PC; why should I spend MY time fixing Microsoft's design flaws? Why should you?

Actually, recently I've found another way to speed up my poor PC, the software "Tuneup360". It’s very easy to handle and, of course, very powerful. My friends and I all use it now. Maybe you can have a try.

In mind a PC is just like a motorbike, in constant need of tuning and care to keep it from conking out on you. You never buy a car and expect it to run forever exactly the same, why should it be any different for today's computers?

I have followed the above mentioned steps, but my problem hasn’t been solved. I'm using HP mini with Windows 7 Starter and 1 GB RAM.

My problem is just the slow switching over multiple tabs in Firefox. Each time I go to another tab it takes a while (sluggish), or you can say the ‘click’ on the tab takes time to happen. The rest of Firefox is working perfectly in speed.

Don’t know how to solve it. I followed all these steps and I'm still having the same problem.

Second problem is how to stop the automatic ‘Get add-ons’ which can be seen in Tools>Add-ons>Get add-ons.

I dumped Microsoft over 4 years ago and haven't looked back since installing Linux. Linux just works, and keeps working day in day out, week in week out. It never slows down. It's constant. My day job is providing tech support for Windows and experience that stretches right back to the very earliest 3.0 version to the very latest version 7 and everything in between. I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole for home use, but it's inherent weaknesses and security holes do pay my bills. ;¬) Talks spades, really, doesn't it.

For all the j/offs saying to get a mac. Hey guess what, maybe we don't WANNA to get an overrated overpriced POS that only runs about 30% of the software out there. On top of that, maybe we don't WANNA pledge allegiance to Intel and Apple. Besides, SOME OF US have games that we play that are available on the PC that are NOT on other OSes. Now I am all for Linux from what I heard, but I dunno if my games can be played over on Linux. But at LEAST with Linux I can still run an AMD CPU. One day I will play with Linux, but until then, XP is a tried and true OS that I use and when it gets messed up, I fix it one way or another… I am waiting and I think it will be VERY soon that the Mac owners all get caught with their pants down and get infected. Why? Because of thier attitude that a mac does not get infections… Just wait. It will happen and no one deserves it more than Appleheads.

Well, reading ALL these comments here, makes me forget everything I wanted to tell you. First of all, I use computers only for 1 year and 7 months, but since I "fell in love" with my Acer Aspire One netbook, I know some more things about computers from the average user. I have used Windows XP, Windows 7 Ultimate, Ubuntu 9.04, Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Remix and Ubuntu 11.04. Now, I use only Windows 7 Ultimate and Ubuntu 11.04. I have to admit that Ubuntu is a bit faster than Windows XP and Windows 7, but it's less user-friendly than Windows.

I mean, c'mon, when Ubuntu boots, it shows the code that is running in the background, while in Windows it just shows the boot screen. In Ubuntu sometimes to install a program, you may have to use sudo apt-get install blah-blah-blah…, while in Windows there are not "hidden" repositories, or .deb packages that install through the terminal. That's what I mean for not user-friendly Linux/Ubuntu and more. About performance, at my 1.33 GHz netbook, when playing a game in Wine (which, my opinion, should be pre-installed in Ubuntu), it's really s..l…o……w, as it is when playing even Flash games. That has made Windows speeds, look like "normal" speeds, so when I play games in Windows, it's "normal", I mean it's not sticky.

As for those who say: re-format / buy new computer / Get Linux / Get Mac / Get iPhone etc. these are not tips to speed up your computer. If you don't know any tips, just don't post comments.

There are definitely some tips/solutions that are missing, like:

Disable the delete confirmation dialog from Recycling Bin and (why not) if you know what you are going to delete, enable immediate remove.

As for the post, for me the tips are not something new, most of the programs referred are already on my computer, but this post is somehow reminding me of the things I need to do to have my computer in shape.

@Aseem I think that as this post keeps taking visits everyday, you should continue answering/replying to the comments… Otherwise you are not a good website owner :)

This is an awesome list. Included in "build a new computer" I'm guessing is add an SSD hard drive instead of a magnetic spinning one.

The other item which I think could truly make any computer like sheer lightening compared to what it used to be is RAMDisk – this turns your ram into your hard drive and should maybe be #100. Let me know what you think, and thanks so much for the list.

Nice tips. Adding RAM WILL speed up your computer. However, you may want to increase your virtual memory. Go to control panel, system properties. Click advanced then performance settings and then click advanced again. You can adjust your virtual memory here.

I'll try to see if i can try some of these tips that dont involve downloading or purchasing more programs!! otherwise i would end up cleaning my compurter and clogging it with more programs at the same time :S :S

NOWAY HOSEY! C, …we just aint got no centuries available to install,reinstall and REcustomize tons of s/w just b/cause a freakin’GLITCH happens someplace,somewhere within the registry or GOD nkows, where else!! We just happen to have A LIFE too U know!! So just use a CrapClean prog all along with a SmartDefragger and u’re almost just as good as U were the First time U switched on that DAMN machine the first place!!!And lets not hear about switchin 2 Linux!I’ve been usin’ it since DAY 2 my friends being a Unix specialist and one thing im certain of,is i’d NEVER use it 4 any business tasks, as it’s continually messing things up with all the…freakin changes that take place every 6 months to a year , either be it user interface behavior, or just about every USABLE application u can imagine!! Leave alone the broken mess often ocurring,either on Debian aptitude based systems or rpm counterparts..A total nightmare and a worst loss of time relatively to ANY windows flavors i’ve encountered,and believe me,i’ve seen them ALL !!

NO it doesnt.Compositin’ managers ALWAYS bare a heavier load on BOTH worlds,be it either using those extra scripts needed for the fancy GL blazin’ eyeCandy to increase runtime as high as 400% up(!) or by just the usin a lets say 5 yr old…”legacy” hardware VideoConroller(!!!) that just..costed A FORTUNE back then , as simple as that

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Aseem Kishore

Founder of Help Desk Geek and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time.

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About Help Desk Geek

Welcome to Help Desk Geek- a blog full of help desk tips for IT Professionals. My name is Aseem Kishore and I work as a Systems Analyst in Dallas, TX. I graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, GA in 2002 with a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics.